Satisfactory, but not enough: Liberalism’s outlooks on the Russian war in Ukraine

Abstract

The Russian war against Ukraine is an attack on liberal values. This essay bases itself on the critical analysis of few selected exponents and defenders of modern liberalism in International Relations, which recently appeared in some media outlets and academic reviews. It critically engages with this International Relations’ theory and offers the advantages and limitations, interpretations, and outlook on it considering the aggression in Ukraine. Most of all, it discusses the advantages – security concerns, principles of ethics, defence of national independence, spread of democracy – and the disadvantages – security threats, fallacy of trade, geopolitical return of Russia, lack of State-level analysis – liberalism’s spectacles entails. Liberalism is convincing in analyzing the facts and has a good theoretical frame for exploring historical and geopolitical events. However, it risks being too naïve and incomplete in its diagnosis.